Pizzas are typically made in an aluminum pan having a circular flat cooking surface. Frequently, the center of such pizza remains undercooked, mushy and doughy, when the outer portions of the pizza are completely cooked.
To overcome this problem, numerous suggestions have been made to utilize perforations in the pan bottom to allow moisture to escape and/or to directly expose pizza dough to oven heat. These patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,176,591; 4,563,946; 5,503,063; 5,523,104; and 5,526,735. Some of these create difficulty in handling the dough, and others spoil the appearance of the finished product. In any event, the need still exists for an improved pan and method for cooking pizza.
A pizza pan in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,404 and a pie plate in U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,135 each have a hole in the center and allege that hot gases flowing through the center hole improves the cooking.